Week 66: "Sister McGinnis, you have transfers. Sister Dodson, so do you."

Lunes, 6 Julio 2015
     This morning we went to a museum called Senor de Sipan.  He was a King.  The people found him and his wives buried in a pyramid here in the zone Pomalca.  We met up with the Sisters from Las Delicias (Hna Monson and Hna Meneses) and we went on a tour together.  It was super interesting.  I really enjoyed seeing the history.

     We were there for a while and when we wanted to leave, we had to walk until we found a car...we didn't get home until 2 pm.  When we got back, the sisters from Patapo (Hna Nelson and Hna Corona) called us and told us that they were coming to Pomalca to take out some money from the bank.  We met up with them and took them to a couple stores and then we went home and made some PB & J sandwiches!  After eating, we cleaned the cuarto and paid everyone with the mission money. (housing, food, clothes/laundry)  Then we went to internet to write home.  I love hearing from everyone!
     Then we went home and got our stuff ready and headed out teaching.  After teaching two families, we went to dinner with Monica and her family and the elders.  We ate pizza....and it was good pizza, because a sister from Canada showed Monica how to make pizza....so we ate some real Canadian Bacon pizza.  I love eating at Monica's, especially when the elders can eat with us, too.  This was Elder Brunis' last P-Day.  I am going to miss him.
   
Martes, 7 Julio 2015
     We went to Chiclayo this morning for the leadership meeting.  We taught about prayer, and everyone seemed to love it.  Many came up to us afterwards, to thank us for opening their eyes even more, to the reality of the ability to pray to our Father in Heaven.

Our Zone

Hnas in the Zone
McGinnis, Dodson, Corona, Nelson, Monson, Meneses

Hna Corona!

with Hna Meneses

     We ran into Elder Epperson at the meeting.  He says that he misses Pomalca.  Oh, Elder Brunis and Elder Epperson say thanks for the packages mom.  They loved them!  Elder Brunis put his socks on immediately.  He loves them.
     After the meeting and lunch (McDonald's), we went back to Pomalca.  We felt a little sick, so we rested.
     In the night, we went and bought pollo-a-la-braza.  Usually they give us ketchup to go with our fries, but they didn't have any, so we stopped by a tienda and bought salsa de tomate, which we thought was the lower class way of saying ketchup....nope.  Turns out that means spaghetti sauce....so...we ate spaghetti sauce with our fries.  It was pretty good....wacky, but good. :)
     Then we got ready for bed.

Miercoles, 8 Julio 2015     FELIZ 15 MESES!
     Time is flying by!  Fifteen months!?  How?
     Well, this morning we tried to visit Eduardo, but he wasn't home, so we went to Luis' house to see if he had returned from Lima, and he had!  We went in and talked to him for a long time.  He is just so excited to do all that he can to be on a good page with God.  He says he is feeling better, so we invited him to be baptized on the 1st of August, which is the earliest that he could, but he let us know that he will be leaving for Lima again for tests and results on his health status.  He really wants to be baptized, but for now, it is not his time. :(  He is completely turned to God, though.
     After that, we visited Elsa.  She fell asleep during our lesson.  We didn't realize it until we asked if she had ever heard of Joseph Smith before, and there was no answer.  Then we could see her head nodding off. :)
     Then we went and visited an old woman named Rosaelba (89yrs).  She is so sweet.  She does everything herself and she just loves to talk about God.  As we were teaching, her 5 year old grandson came in and joined us.  He even offered the closing prayer.  It was the sweetest thing ever! He calls God, Papa Dios. :)
     Later in the night, as we were walking down the street, we found Luis with a man.  Luis was talking to the man about how God can help him in his life, and then he started reading a part in the Bible to him.  Luis is awesome.  He told us that if he can be healed, he wants to go and preach every single day.

Jueves, 9 Julio 2015
     This afternoon we visited Eduardo.  He loved the pamphlets that we gave him about the Apostasy and the Restoration.  As we were teaching, a young mom walked in with her daughter, who was very sick.  Eduardo told us that he invited them over because he feels something special from us and he told us, "I know you can heal this little girl, Anali."  We explained the priesthood power to him, and it was at that moment that the Patriarch told the mom, Mabel, that he would be over at their house in an hour to give Anali a blessing of health.  We testified of the power that the worthy men in the LDS church have.  The spirit was really strong, and then we ended with a prayer that I offered.  The room was filled with the spirit and it felt "cozy".  It was amazing!
     Later, we visited Graciela.  She is quite a hoot.  Today we were talking about loving God and our neighbors, so I asked, "How do we love our neighbors?" Graciela responded, "Well...if you like them, you need to be nice...but if you don't like them, we might have to grab them by the hair and scream a bit."  haha  Obviously, I had to correct her thinking, but she always has some crazy ideas.  haha

     After that, we ate dinner.  Then we went to Noche Misional (ward activity).  We played a couple of games that got us all laughing.  The first game:  You pick a topic, for example, colors.  Then one person chooses a color and writes it down and then asks each person to say a color.  The person that says the chosen color gets water squirted on them.  The second game: One person has a rolled up newspaper and goes up to someone, and that person has to say the name of someone else in the circle, and the person with the newspaper runs over to that person and has to hit them with the newspaper unless they say another person's name first.  We were laughing so hard!  At one point, someone yelled, "Dodson!" so Teo, who had the newspaper, came running at me.  I sat there not knowing who to say, so I said, "Uhhhh..." SMACK!  "....Obispo! (Bishop)"  Everyone started laughing that I would send Teo to hit the Bishop. haha :)

Viernes, 10 Julio 2015
     This morning on our way home from breakfast, we saw something really interesting.  We saw a man walking with a bike, a giant cow, and a dog following, barking his little lungs out.  The best part was that they were heading to the slaughter house at the end of the road.  Welcome to Pomalca.

     In the afternoon, we visited Mara Marin, and she made us talk to her son who lives in Lima, on her cell phone.  It was pretty awkward.  haha
     Later, we visited Anaximandro and Victoria.  I love them.  Before we left, we took pictures with them.  After we took one picture, Anaximandro looked at it and said, "Something that would complete the picture is if I had my hat on."  Then Victoria said, "What hat?  You don't have a hat." Anaximandro then said, "That one...and points to a doughnut pillow sitting on the chair."  Then Victoria said, "Hombre (man), that is not a hat."  Anaximandro grabbed the "hat" and we took another picture.  I always leave them feeling so happy. :)

Anaximandro, Hna Dodson, Hna McGinnis, Victoria

Anaximandro's "hat"

     In the night, we visited the familia Espinoza.  We talked about the Word of Wisdom, and they loved it.  We did practices of what we would do if someone tried to invite us to use the 5 things we shouldn't use.  It went well.  After our lesson, they invited us to eat hamburgers and soda.  Then we took a picture with them.  They all 'smile' like Peruvians. :)

Hna McGinnis, Diana, Sebastian, Cesar,
Enrique, Sergio, Hna Dodson

Then we went home and planned.

Sabado, 11 de Julio de 2015
     This day was a LONG day.  First, we went to Gladys', hoping to find Luis, too....well he was there, but denied our visit because he was preparing to teach a class at some Evangelist church....

with Gladys

Then we tried to find a reference named Angelica.  We found her, but she lied to us.  We ended up leaving her a Book of Mormon because she wants to study it, but she doesn't want our visits because she is from the Evangelist church....
     Later, something completely heart wrenching happened.  We visited the familia Ysique Garcia. It all started with Maria explaining that her mom and sister Magdalena went to Lima to get treatment for the tumor her mom had.  While they were there, Maria's brother, who is a member of a church called MMM (Misionero Mundial).  Well, supposedly Maria's mom was "healed" by their church, so they committed themselves to that church.  When they got home, they began to bully everyone into joining the church Mundial.  They really got to Maria because when we got talking, she told us that she is really confused.  They also got to poor Pedro...Pedro now wants nothing to do with our church. The entire time we were there with their family, we were crying.  It was such a rough time.  We just kept testifying of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  I am so worried for them.  It is hard because Maria has a hernia and is super sick and wants to be healed like her mom....
     It is crazy.  In one day, we lost 2 investigators and in the process of losing recent converts.
     We left San Antonio crying, to head to an urgent ward council meeting.  When we showed up, it turned out to be a surprise party to say goodbye to Elder Brunis.  They went around the entire room to say something nice about Elder Brunis.  Then we took some pictures of everyone.

with Indiana, the Patriarch's wife

     After that, we went to dinner and to make copies of our progress report.  Then we went home, planned, got a call from President Williams, which was about our cuarto...which made us think that he is going to take us both out of Pomalca....today has been a long, hard day.  Pray for us and all these people. We all need help.

Domingo, 12 Julio 2015
     Today I had one of those "proud Mom moments".  Cergio Espinoza (son of Cesar and Diana) passed the sacrament for the first time.  It was something really special to me.  He was glowing and he was so excited.  He even showed up to church 40 minutes early to be ready. :)
     After church, we tried to leave but no one would let us go until we took a picture with them, because they know that we have transfers tonight.

Hna Dodson, Diana, Enrique, Hna McGinnis

Diana

with familia Espinoza

Hna Dodson, Lucrecia, Betsi, Hna McGinnis, Mary

After taking some pictures, we tried to visit some people.  First, we went to Graciela.  She asked us to come back tomorrow, and tried to go buy us a Coke.  We said, "Hermana, it's Sunday.  We don't buy things."  Graciela responded, "I'm inviting you...there is no need for you to buy, I am going to buy it." We said, "No, hermana...as members of the church, we don't buy anything on Sunday."  Graciela said, "I always buy on Sunday...but I will wait until tomorrow because you are being so stubborn." haha  I love her.

with the "one and only Graciela"

     For lunch, we ate with Martha, Pablo and Olenka.  I love them.  We talked and shared laughs and smiles.  They told us that they have come to love us a lot and don't want either one of us to have cambios.
     After lunch, we visited Clara Zambrano.  We told her that there is a possibility that we are going to have transfers, and she started to cry.  She shared with us that we are her confidants, and she will really miss us.

with Clara Zambrano

     We also visited Vianca, Maria and Antero.  While we were there, there was a knock on the door. It was Diana.  She was searching for us everywhere and finally found us.  She told us that we had to go over to her house to get a goodbye gift from them.  We told them that we would go over in the night time. She left and we finished teaching.
     Then we went to our meeting at the church.  Hna Bertha gave us a report of all the visits she and the ward missionaries made this week.  They are awesome.  She is an amazing missionary.  We took a picture with our ward missionaries.

Elder Allgaier, Elder Brunis, Teo , our ward missionary,
Hna Dodson, Hna McGinnis

The misioneros de barrio
Front:  Bertha, Carlota, Maria, Elder Brunis, Elder Allgaier
Back:  Hna Dodson, Hna McGinnis, Silberio, Flavio, and
some man from the ward

     Then we went to ward council.  After ward council, we went to the familia Espinoza.  They gave us both pretty necklaces and a cute bag that holds cameras and/or cell phones.  They also gave me a beautiful bracelet.  The bracelet and necklaces are made from pearls that they find here in the ocean.

     Then we went to the pension and ate budding, which is a cake drowned in something really liquidy.  It is really good, but it looks like wet cake. :)

My Peruvian Family
Family of the pensionista
Hna McGinnis, Zuletzi, Bertha, Silberio, Cecilia with Kimber
in her arms, Hna Dodson

with Bertha
she is our 'companera'
(companion/friend)

     We went home and then our zone leaders called.  They called at the most inconvenient time...I was on the toilet.  So I hurried and got out of the bathroom and that is when I heard Elder Brunis say, "Sister McGinnis, you have transfers.  Sister Dodson, so do you."  Our reply, "Are you serious?  The both of us? Are they putting new sisters here?"  They said, "No. You are shutting down Pomalca 2."
We got off the phone and started planning, and then we packed.
     How crazy.  I can't believe I am leaving Pomalca.  I thought I would end my mission here....but I guess I'm not going to.
     We got a call from Hna Corona, who has closed almost every area she has been in and she gave us pointers on how to close an area.  It was actually helpful.

Me, McGinnis, Martha (in back), Jade and Fanny

McGinnis, Adrea, Me and Martha